Saturday, September 17, 2016

You know that the refrigerator is just a box full of cold air right?

Boxes have a magical quality. They can make different things the same. They can make many things one. They can make things disappear. This power, like all power, can be used for good or evil. I find that the more boxes I have around me the more likely I am to use them improperly. The refrigerator is a good example of one of these bad boxes.

... their power can be used for good or evil ...

I don't cook for many people -- usually just one. I want to cook good healthy food and therefore I often pick up a few vegetables at the store. When I would get the groceries home I would load up the refrigerator. At the end of the week, I would go through the fridge and pull out all the food that had gone bad waiting to be used. I finally decided that I need to stop this wasteful process. I was wasting money on food that wasn't eaten. I was not eating healthier. It was just not working out.

... I was wasting food ... not eating ...

The problem that I determined was that I would not see the food. It was hidden in the refrigerator box. When I see kitchens on film there is always food laying around ready to be cooked. When you walked into my kitchen there were just unappetizing boxes. No one has ever said, "hey man, that's a delicious looking fridge." When you are hungry you want food. If there was food in the kitchen rather than boxes I would be more likely to eat it.

... That's a delicious looking fridge, said no one ever ...

I started by taking out the eggs. I have them for breakfast, so they are used up fast enough to not need refrigeration. Then my mother surprised me by suddenly leaving her butter out on the counter in a sealed glass container. It was super handy and it was warm and easy to spread. Then I was shopping for vegetables and thought about green onions. Now, green onions are one of those things that really bug me. I cannot eat a whole bunch of green onions before they go bad. So I was looking up storage options. Someone suggested putting them on the counter in a glass of water. I tried this, and was completely amazed by the result. Not only did they stay fresh, but they actually grew. I increased the amount of food that I bought by simply not refrigerating it -- mind blown.

I'm still at the beginning of this kitchen change. I've more things to learn, but I have a good feeling about it. My goal is to get rid of my large refrigerator in time, and just have a small one for those things that must stay cold (uncooked meats, drinks, etc.)